Effects of intranasal phototherapy on nasal microbial flora in patients with allergic rhinitis.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of intranasal phototherapy on nasal microbial flora in patients with allergic rhinitis. This prospective, self-comparised, single blind study was performed on patients with a history of at least two years of moderate-to-severe perennial allergic rhinitis that was not controlled by anti-allergic drugs. Thirty-one perennial allergic rhinitis patients were enrolled in this study. Before starting the test population on their intranasal phototherapy, the same trained person took a nasal culture from each subject by applying a sterile cotton swab along each side of the nostril and middle meatus. Each intranasal cavity was irradiated three times a week for two weeks with increasing doses of irradiated. At the end of the intranasal phototherapy, nasal cultures were again obtained from the each nostril. The study found that after intranasal phototherapy, the scores for total nasal symptoms decreased significantly but bacterial proliferation was not significantly different before and after phototherapy. We have shown that intranasal phototherapy does not change the aerobic nasal microbial flora in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis.